Brains behind abductions exposed

Jestina Mukoko to appear in court

http://www.herald.co.zw
Published by the Government of Zimbabwe

Herald Reporter

FORMER ZBC newscaster Jestina Mukoko and nine MDC-T activists are expected
to appear in a Harare court today on charges of recruiting or attempting to
recruit people for purposes of undergoing military training to overthrow the
Government.

Mukoko, an MDC-T activist and director of an NGO - the Zimbabwe Peace
Project - was picked up at her Norton home on December 5.

The other eight are the husband and wife team of Manuel and Concilia
Chinanzvavana of Zvimba, Pieter Kaseke of Banket, Audrey Zimbudzana of
Chinhoyi, Broderick Takawira, the provincial co-ordinator of the ZPP for
Mashonaland East; Fidelis Mujabuki Chiramba, the MDC-T Zvimba South
chairman; Violet Mapfuranhewe and Collen Mutemagau, MDC-T Zvimba South youth
district chairman.

A statement from the Zimbabwe Republic Police yesterday said some time in
April this year, Manuel allegedly recruited Ricardo Hwasheni, a police
constable based at Waterfalls in Harare, to undergo military training in
Botswana with a view to forcibly deposing the Government and replace it with
one led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

Manuel allegedly tasked Hwasheni to recruit four other policemen, promising
them US$2 000 each.

Later, the statement said, Manuel and Kaseke, who is Hwasheni's cousin, went
to MDC-T's headquarters at Harvest House, where a man identified only as
Josen interviewed Hwasheni.

After the interview, Josen allegedly told Hwasheni that he would hear from
him within two weeks or that Mukoko would contact him.

In June, the statement says, Hwasheni met Mukoko at her offices in Milton
Park in Harare where she further interviewed him before handing him over to
Takawira, who told him that he would be contacted within two weeks.

The statement further alleged that a man

who had been sent by Mukoko met Hwasheni at Girls' High School in Harare and
gave him 200 pula and some Zimbabwean dollars for transport to Botswana
where he was to meet a man known as Special.

Hwasheni crossed into Botswana in July through the Plumtree border post and
met Special at Ramokgwebana Border Post.

Special took Hwasheni to a military camp in Botswana where he underwent
training in the use of FN and AK rifles, military tactics as well as
political lessons together with five other MDC-T recruits.

There were, according to the statement, 50 other recruits undergoing
military training in the same camp.

Hwasheni returned to Zimbabwe with specific instructions to study the mood
of junior police officers inasfar as loyalty was concerned and the mood of
the public towards Government.

When he was arrested Hwasheni implicated Mukoko, Takawira, Manuel, Kaseke
and Zimbudzana.

The other four - Concilia, Chiramba, Violet and Mutemagau - are being
accused of recruiting people for training under the National Youth Symposium
Training Programme in Botswana in July.

Concilia is alleged to have recruited Tapera Mapfuranhewe, who is Violet's
brother, for the programme warning him not to tell anyone about it.

Tapera was given two letters which he took to Harvest House by Concilia and
Ellen Musoni recommending him as a suitable candidate for the training.

Morleen Ncube and "Professor" Malvern interviewed Tapera together with 50
others at Harvest House and 48 who passed the interview attended a workshop
held in Kadoma where they were told about the trip to Botswana for military
training.

Between the end of August and September 9, the group allegedly travelled to
Botswana in three batches with Tapera in the last batch that had 17 recruits
with instructions from Edson Chamisa to meet a man known only as Zola.

The group was taken to Okavango Training Camp where they joined 120 other
recruits, but on October 16 Tapera escaped and returned to Zimbabwe where he
reported the military training to the State prompting an investigation.

Concilia and Chiramba are also being accused of holding meetings in Banket
where they encouraged MDC-T youths to undergo military training in Botswana.

Zimbabwe run by a criminal mafia: COSATU

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Own Correspondent Wednesday 24 December 2008

JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe's ruling elite operates like a "criminal mafia,"
abducting and murdering political opponents while their subjects face a
daily struggle against disease and worsening economic hardships,
neighbouring South Africa's trade union movement has said.

In a New Year message the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)
criticized southern Africa leaders for kowtowing to President Robert Mugabe
while ignoring he lost elections last March and was unwilling to implement a
power-sharing deal with the opposition.

"While millions of ordinary Zimbabweans struggle to survive and avoid
falling prey to cholera, the ruling elite are now ruling as a criminal
mafia, arresting, abducting and murdering anyone standing in their way,"
said COSATU in the statement released Monday.

The union has led criticism against Mugabe's government and in one of
several actions against the Zimbabwean leader, last April blocked a Chinese
ship carrying weapons for Zimbabwe from offloading its cargo at a South
African port saying Mugabe could use the arms against opponents.

COSATU, which is part of South Africa's ruling tripartite that is led by the
ANC and includes the South African Communist Party, criticized Southern
African Development Community (SADC) for its kid gloves approach towards
Mugabe.

It said: "The SADC leaders have shamelessly ignored the daily, widespread
abuse of human rights by a 'government' that lost the elections on 29 March
2008, while trying to patch up a 'power-sharing' agreement that would leave
the party that won that election with a token role in a government still
dominated by Mugabe's police state and paramilitary thugs."

The SADC, which analysts say has the most influence over the Harare
administration, has resisted calls by Western governments for Mugabe to step
down, insisting the only way to resolve Zimbabwe's crisis was through a
power-sharing agreement signed three months ago.

Mugabe, opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara signed an
agreement on September 15 to form a government of national unity, raising
hopes that Zimbabwe could finally emerge from its crisis.

But the agreement brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki has
failed to take off as Mugabe and his main rival Tsvangirai wrangle over who
should control key ministries and other top government posts.

A spate of abductions of opposition supporters and government critics in
recent weeks has added to doubts over the power-sharing pact, with
Tsvangirai threatening to quit talks unless the kidnappings are brought to
an end and all abductees are released.

Once a regional breadbasket, Zimbabwe, is in the grip of an unprecedented
economic and humanitarian crisis marked by acute shortages of food and basic
commodities, amid a cholera epidemic that the United Nations says has killed
more than 1 000 people since August.

Critics blame the crisis on misrule by Mugabe who has presided over the
southern African nation since its 1980 independence from Britain.

Mugabe denies ruining Zimbabwe and instead blames his country's problems on
economic sabotage and sanctions by Westerns governments opposed to his
rule. - ZimOnline.

Two Billion Zimbabwe Dollars For a Loaf of Bread As Hyperinflation Surges

http://www.voanews.com

By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
      23 December 2008

Zimbabwe's beleaguered consumers have witnessed massive increases in the
prices of basic foodstuffs and other commodities following the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe's introduction late last week of new notes in denominations of
Z$1 billion, Z$5 billion and Z$10 billion.

The central bank also increased the monthly bank cash withdrawal limit for
individuals to $10 billion in response to pressure from trade unions that it
allow workers to access all of their funds, and rampages by disgruntled
soldiers turned away from bank cash windows.

Sources in Harare said a loaf of bread was going for between $2 billion and
2.5 billion dollars. A kilogram of meat on fetched five U.S. dollars - the
equivalent of Z$45-55 billion dollars at the prevailing street exchange rate
of Z$9-11 billion dollars per greenback.

Commuter omnibus operators were demanding Z$2 billion or much-sought-after
gasoline coupons for a ride from the Harare city center to Highfield and
other inner suburbs.

Soaring prices for food have increased reliance on imports and remittances
in cash and kind from relatives living in the so-called diaspora in South
Africa in particular.

Makomborero Chikwezeze, a Zimbabwean in Johannesburg, told reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri he has resorted to sending groceries back home to make sure his
family survives.

Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic still not under control, UN reports

http://www.un.org

23 December 2008 - The worst cholera epidemic ever recorded in Zimbabwe is
still not under control after infecting nearly 24,000 people, with the death
toll approaching 1,200, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported
today.
The disease now affects all provinces in the impoverished southern African
country and there continues to be staffing issues at cholera treatment
centres as many medics are going without salaries and cannot show up to
work, UNICEF Country Representative Roeland Monasch told reporters in a
telephone briefing from Harare, the capital.

Half the cases are in Harare, and only a handful of professionals are
staffing clinics where several dozen are needed.

UNICEF is providing 700,000 litres of clean water a day, even digging
boreholes in urban areas. It is also procuring 4,000 tons of water treatment
chemicals for urban areas to fight the disease, which is caused by
contaminated food or water, and can lead quickly to severe dehydration and
death if treatment is not promptly given.

The first ever UNICEF airlift of critical emergency supplies to Zimbabwe has
brought in intravenous fluids, drip equipment, essential drugs, midwifery
and obstetric kits to boost the agency's cholera response and help the
Government to deliver some essential health services to expecting mothers.

Yesterday four independent UN human rights experts called on the Government
of Zimbabwe and the international community to do more to rebuild the
country's health system, end the cholera epidemic and ensure adequate food
for all people.

Low-tech pump helps to keep villages cholera-free

December 24, 2008

Jan Raath in Watsomba

Click to find out more about The Times Charity Appeal

The big nurse strode up to the car and greeted the driver by banging her fist against his. I was surprised. Instead of the long, intimate meeting of two sweaty, microbe-rich palms in an ordinary handshake, it was a fleeting contact between two dry, bony surfaces.

Even Watsomba district, far away in the rolling hills of eastern Zimbabwe, knows the anti-cholera handshake they use in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital and the epicentre of a devastating cholera epidemic.

But the danger is potentially close by, said Sister Mercy Maodzwa – only 20 kilometres (13 miles) away at a squatters’ camp on the Mutare river, fouled by sewage and the detritus of gold panners.

But where we are now is Govingo, a small village with a constant traffic of women with buckets balanced on their heads to collect water from one of several Elephant pumps in the area, sealed from the outside, so that little or no dirt blows in. The pumps are raised well above ground – so no mud or pathogens brought in by the feet of people and animals seep in – and pumped from the outside by a large metal handle, so no dirty hands touch the rope that passes through the water in the well.

“The first thing I ask people who come to the clinic with diarrhoea is whether they use an open well. We don’t have diarrhoea in this area because the pumps’ water is protected. Those who don’t have the pumps, they get diarrhoea.”

At Govingo well, Mavis Chimteng-ise shouted at her son for playing with the water as it came out the pump. “We can feel sure about our water,” she said. “We know our water is safe.”

About 100 metres away was another pump, a large robust-looking machine with a long, heavy diagonal handle sticking out from its head. It is a Bush pump, designed by Harare’s Blair Research Laboratory, renowned for its innovations of simplicity and strength in water and sanitation technology. Thousands of Bush pumps were bought by the Government to bring clean water to rural settlements all over the country, and they have been used and copied all over Africa.

It was installed in 1990, but like many others around the county, stopped working after ten years.

“It’s a great design and it’s very strong, but it costs ten times more to build and install than the Elephant pump,” said Amos Chitungo, Zimbabwe director of Pump Aid, one of the charities chosen by The Times for its Christmas appeal.

“Spare parts are difficult to find and are expensive. They need specialised technicians to repair them, and specialised tools. There are supposed to be official ‘pump minders’ in every district, but they move on.”

Govingo got its Elephant pump in 2005, and when the rope and washers in the mechanism wore out last year, said Douglas Makomva, the community’s pump mechanic, it took 30 minutes to change, and it has been fine since.

Poverty-stricken rural communities like those in Watsomba can function on inexpensive technology without a lot of help, which Zimbabwe’s Government is incapable of providing. Pump Aid’s aim is to find the cheapest, functional and adaptable materials for the Elephant pump.

In a blistering hot corrugated iron workshop in the city of Mutare 80 kilometres south of here, David Katiyo, the Pump Aid technician, is trying out cheap locally manufactured sisal rope to replace the nylon rope that raises the water from the bottom of the well.

Soon after he joined three years ago, Mr Katiyo built from scrap metal a simple plastic injection mould device to make the washers that hold the water on its way up to the outlet pipe. For material, he melts down “scuds”, plastic bottles for traditional beer, or empty cement bags of woven plastic.

He has also devised a new rope guide, the mechanism at the bottom of the well that feeds the rope and washers into the upward pipe of the Elephant pump to replace the expensive stainless steel version in use now. Mr Katiyo’s looks like an elaborate wire toy they sell to tourists in township markets, but it has only two moving parts, of short lengths of scrap plastic pipe that can be replaced for next to nothing when they wear out.

Steven Makunike, 55, was one of Pump Aid’s first beneficiaries, in 1996, after trials were conducted on his 22-hectare (54 acres) smallholding in Watsomba. Fourteen metres deep, the well has been watering neat rows of 125 apple trees, several kinds of vegetables and maize that he sells locally. His huts’ thatch is trimmed, there is a lawn in the courtyard and shrubs and flowers.

Before the Elephant pump, he and his family of eight children had to hoist water out of the open well and carry buckets to water the crops. “It was very laborious,” he said. Turning the pump handle was much easier and more efficient but still they had to carry buckets. Then he built a reservoir from which he ran a hose. His next project is to put in underground pipes to water the fruit trees.

“Since 1996 I haven’t changed the rope and the washers once, and I use the pump all the time,” he said. He smiled the smile of a satisfied perfectionist.

Zimbabwe must change now

Op-ed in The Australian
Wednesday  December 24, 2008
By Senator David Coltart

ZIMBABWE is in the vortex of a perfect humanitarian storm; an unprecedented
convergence of AIDS, poverty, hyperinflation, malnutrition, a regime that
does not care and, now, cholera. The humanitarian crisis has its roots in
the political crisis.

The political agreement signed in September by ZANU-PF and both factions of
the Movement for Democratic Change has not been implemented. Both the
agreement and the process leading to the agreement have been widely
criticised.

There is no doubt that the agreement is seriously flawed. The powers of the
Prime Minister are weak and the prospects of securing consensus in a cabinet
in which the combined MDC factions have a narrow majority are limited.
Scepticism in the West may also result in limited support for the
transitional government.

ZANU-PF has demonstrated extreme bad faith since the signing of the
agreement and is unlikely to change even once the transitional government
has been established. There has been a surge in abductions of human rights
and political activists in recent weeks and Morgan Tsvangirai still has not
been given a passport. ZANU-PF also retains all the coercive ministries,
including defence, the secret police and the police.

However, as bad as the agreement is, there is no other viable, nonviolent
option open to Zimbabweans. An appeal to the African Union or the UN against
what the Southern African Development Community has arranged and endorsed,
namely the September agreement, will be fruitless.That was demonstrated
graphically this week through the frustration of the US and Britain's
attempts to raise Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis in the Security Council.
While strong statements made by Gordon Brown, George W. Bush, Angela Merkel
and Desmond Tutu have called for the removal of Robert Mugabe, there is
little prospect that their rhetoric will translate into action. There is no
stomach in the West for military intervention and many of us opposed to
Mugabe would not support such a policy.

A spontaneous uprising is unlikely. Zimbabwe does not have a pressure-cooker
environment such as existed in East Germany where young people, usually the
vanguard of any uprising, are forced to remain in the country. Zimbabwe has
two safety valves - Botswana and South Africa - to which most of the young
opponents have escaped. Most people left in the country are physically
weakened by the collapse of the economy and the humanitarian crisis.

Some argue that if the MDC waits a while the Mugabe regime will collapse.
This is a possibility but a huge gamble. There is every chance that in the
event of Mugabe losing power some of the more radical elements within the
military may seize power, which in turn could see Zimbabwe degenerate into
even worse forms of anarchy than exist at present.

Furthermore, a wait-and-see policy will not address the extreme humanitarian
crisis that needs to be resolved immediately if the lives of potentially
hundreds of thousands are to be saved.

In short, there is no alternative but to press for the September agreement
to be implemented, warts and all. The combined MDC should join the
transitional government under protest and reserve its right to withdraw from
the government if needs be.

It should also be stressed that the agreement is not all bad.

Indeed, Zimbabweans suffer from such a victim mentality that there is a
danger that in focusing so much on the negative aspects of the agreement we
will ignore the real opportunities that the agreement provides to transform
Zimbabwe from an autocracy to a democracy.

First, the office of prime minister will have huge de facto power. The
success of the transitional government will depend on the amount of
international assistance that can be raised. There is such disdain for
Mugabe that there is no prospect of any assistance coming through his door.
The International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Union and other
governments and institutions will want to channel all their aid through the
office of prime minister. MDC also will hold the finance ministry, giving
Tsvangirai enormous power and an effective veto. If he decides to withdraw
from the transitional government, aid will dry up at the same time.

Second, ZANU-PF's fixation with controlling the coercive ministries has
resulted in it ceding control to the combined MDC of nearly all the service
ministries, such as health and education, likely to have the biggest impact
on the lives of Zimbabweans. If the MDC improves services, which should not
be too difficult given that most government departments have all but
collapsed, it will increase its support.

Third, the agreement obliges the transitional government to liberalise the
political environment and to start, immediately, a process of constitutional
reform that must culminate in a new democratic constitution being enacted
within 18 months. Both SADC and the AU have guaranteed the agreement
including these provisions.
In addition, for all the criticisms levelled against SADC governments in the
past few months, they have demonstrated a commitment to enforce all the
terms of the agreement and it will be in regional governments' self-interest
to ensure reform continues.

Fourth, ZANU-PF is a shadow of its former self. Mugabe turns 85 in February
and is increasingly out of touch with reality. He has retained some of his
patronage system, ironically, because the transitional government has not
been set up, but once it is he will be even weaker.

So, although the agreement is fraught with potential problems, the sooner it
is implemented the better. Constitutional amendment 19, which gives legal
teeth to the September agreement, has just been gazetted. By mid-January
2009 it should be passed into law, making the process of transition almost
irreversible.

Thereafter the success of the transitional period will depend on the
statesmanship of Zimbabwean politicians and the role played by the
international community. SADC must honour its pledge to guarantee the
agreement. It must deploy a senior envoy to enforce the agreement and to be
permanently based in Harare at least for the 18 months leading to the
enactment of a new constitution.

The wider international community including the IMF, World Bank, UN, EU and
the US, is going to have to give the agreement a chance by helping to
stabilise Zimbabwe's economy and address the humanitarian crisis. While
there is understandable scepticism about the agreement, it is important that
these concerns do not become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

One thing is certain. If the MDC is unable to improve the lives of
Zimbabweans, the agreement will fail and the region will be further
destabilised.

Tutu accuses S Africa over Mugabe

Wednesday, 24 December 2008

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has accused South Africa of losing the moral high ground by failing to stand up to Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe. The Noble peace-prize winner told the BBC that using force should be an option to get rid of Mr Mugabe. Archbishop Tutu also said he was saddened that his own country appeared not to be on the side of Zimbabweans. He said: "How much more suffering is going to make us say 'No we have given Mr Mugabe enough time?'" Archbishop Desmond Tutu also said South Africa had a leadership role as its president chairs the Southern African Development Community. But he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that South Africa had instead betrayed its legacy by blocking firmer action from the United Nations. I have to say that I am deeply, deeply distressed that we should be found not on the side of the ones who are suffering Archbishop Desmond Tutu He added: "I want to say first of all that I have been very deeply disappointed, saddened by the position that South Africa has taken at the United Nations Security Council in being an obstacle to the security council dealing with that matter. "And I have to say that I am deeply, deeply distressed that we should be found not on the side of the ones who are suffering. "I certainly am ashamed of what they've done in the United Nations. "For the world to say no, we are waiting for South Africa's membership of the Security Council to lapse and then we can take action." That, the Archbishop, said, was an "awful indictment" to a country that had a "proud record of a struggle against a vicious system". He said: "We should have been the ones who for a very long time occupied the moral high ground. "I'm afraid we have betrayed our legacy." The Archbishop's comments come as Foreign Secretary David Miliband has written to the Times newspaper, describing Mr Mugabe as a "stain" on Zimbabwe and reaffirming Britain's view that he has to go.

Tsvangirai must pull out of agreement

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=9109

December 23, 2008

By Tendai Dumbutshena

ZIMBABWEANS face the worst festive season in living memory as the
consequences of a failed state hit home hard. With the state unable to
provide basic services it is now left to international aid agencies to
provide health care and feed half the population. Thousands of families have
lost loved ones to a cholera epidemic caused by the inability of the state
to provide clean potable water.

As the year 2009 approaches the situation cries out for leadership. Robert
Mugabe will certainly not provide such leadership. He cannot see beyond his
obsession to remain in State House. All around him is collapsing but he sees
no urgency to act. All he could tell delegates at his party's conference was
that Zimbabwe was his to rule forever. He is blind to the misery and squalor
that blights the lives of millions. He simply refuses to accept any
responsibility for the destruction his rule has caused.

It is impossible to imagine any relief for Zimbabweans with Mugabe at the
helm.

The year 2009 will determine the political future of MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai. He simply has to raise his game. He has to rise to the occasion
and demonstrate that the faith many Zimbabweans have in him is not
misplaced. He blundered by signing the power-sharing agreement which handed
over the presidency to Mugabe on a silver platter. He got nothing in return
except an empty shell called the Council of Ministers which Patrick
Chinamasa said disdainfully would only meet about four times in a year.

What is important is that since the agreement was signed Mugabe has
demonstrated beyond any doubt that he cannot stomach having the MDC in
government with him even as junior partners. Examples of his bad faith have
been too widely reported to repeat here.

The abduction of MDC officials and civil society activists is a sinister and
deadly development which requires an appropriate response from all
pro-democracy forces.

Tsvangirai has threatened to suspend negotiations with Zanu-PF if all people
abducted by state agents are not released or brought to a court of law by 1
January 2009. His threat was quite unambiguous: "If these abductions do not
cease immediately and if all the abductees are not released or charged in a
court of law by 1 January 2009 I will be asking the MDC National Council to
pass a resolution to suspend all negotiations  and contacts with Zanu-PF."

His deadline is only a week away. Since the state through the police has
denied knowledge of the whereabouts of these unfortunate people it is
unlikely they will be freed by January 1. This is to assume that all of them
are still alive. Given the history of state violence under the Mugabe regime
some may be dead. Will Tsvangirai carry out his threat? These are crucial
times for the MDC leader. All the hard work done by the MDC over the past
nine years will come to nought if he makes strategic blunders.

For too long his leadership has been reactive. It is time for him to seize
the initiative and shape events. A resolution of the MDC National Council
clearly spelt out conditions under which the party will join a so-called
unity government. In the circumstances these are reasonable demands they
must stick to. If they are not met they should pull a plug on this charade.
The MDC should go back to basics and fully re-engage with civil society to
rediscover its soul and purpose. It was formed to democratically transform
Zimbabwean society and not to cut deals that circumvent the will of the
people.

Mugabe's intention is to destroy the MDC. This he will attempt to do whether
they join his government or not. He wants to have elections when he believes
the party has been fatally wounded. The abductions are only the beginning of
this process. At some stage he will charge MDC leaders with treason. This is
where the Botswana story about training MDC insurgents is leading to.
Confessions by MDC captives obtained through torture will be used as
evidence of a plot supported by Botswana to overthrow Mugabe's government.

The agreement is a gigantic fraud that the MDC must walk away from.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) recently published a
report on the way forward for Zimbabwe. This is compulsory reading for
anyone with an interest in the future of Zimbabwe. Crucially the report is
premised on the recognition that the power-sharing agreement is a con job
that must be discarded as unworkable. Its call for a neutral transitional
authority is not a new one. Botswana has proposed this as the only viable
solution. The report goes into some detail on how the transitional authority
would work.

This is the path the MDC must pursue instead of squabbling over crumbs from
Mugabe's table. Tsvangirai, with the support of civil society, must mobilise
people inside Zimbabwe to clamour for a transitional authority whose work
culminates in an internationally-run election. All manner of pressures both
internally and externally must be applied on the regime to accept this. It
is, however, imperative that agitation for this solution be driven by
Zimbabweans themselves with foreigners playing a supportive role.

The principle that those who govern Zimbabwe must do so with the consent of
the people must prevail. It cannot be right for Mugabe to get a new full
five year term as president on the basis of the guns he controls.

Tsvangirai is under immense pressure from SADC leaders to capitulate to
Mugabe. They hope this will make the Zimbabwe problem go away. They neither
have the courage nor inclination to hold Mugabe to account. They want
Tsvangirai to make life easier for them at the expense of Zimbabweans. He
must not buckle under pressure from people who abdicated their
responsibility to uphold the founding principles and values of SADC.

Surrender is never a good way of solving a problem.

On January 1, 2009 it is unlikely that any of the people abducted by state
agents will be freed or brought before a court of law. They will be in
dungeons or torture bases being subjected to savage violence. Tsvangirai
must be true to his word. If the regime does not heed his call for the
release of these people and the cessation of violence and abductions he must
pull out of the agreement. He will have the support of the majority of
Zimbabweans and the international community.

We might as well think of Plan B

http://www.zimdiaspora.com

With much regret we should accept that the unity government cannot work. It
is sad to all Zimbabweans but the sooner we move into reality the better for
all of us. This unity government has made us look like beggars yet we are
the winners for months now. There is no passion at all for us to be seen
playing small in settling for a political share smaller than that we fought
for and democratically deserve.
We have displayed enough patience and leniency far enough and we deserve the
most prestigious peace prize. Our fate remains doldrumed by the African
britherwood.African brothers have not let us down solely but we helped them
let us down. We gave them too much charge of our affairs and locked
ourselves out of the negotiating room where the negotiation is on us. We
display too much literacy on show-offs than the one we tend to apply on
issues affecting us nationally, which need real political intellect. We have
an immature belief that degrees are the only measure of wisdom. Let us
remember that wisdom is not a product of schooling but the product of a
lifelong journey in trying to acquire it.
There has to be times when we need to give in on one thing and try another
.I personally do acknowledge that everyone has tried this one and it has not
worked. We thank all Zimbabweans for trying to be modest for modesty is for
those who are patient. Because you fought with an enemy that is conniving
and manipulative, it does not mean you did not do your best. Do not turn
against each other and embark on the blame game. If you switch games, the
enemy would have accomplished his goals. We all know it is time to think of
plan B, if we don't think of the next plan we might be caught unawares by
the outer forces who will utilize their manipulative tricks tactfully.
You all agree that Zanu pf has pulled us long enough to hate them but do not
give in on the fight now because heroes are made at an hour of defeat. When
you start realising that you cannot do it anymore, it is the time you have
neared achievement because success is described as a series of glorious
defeats. You do not have to give in but engage different plan because every
exit has to be an entry somewhere.
Remember how much time has been wasted to announce the results of the
elections, time wasted talking about the re-run of the presidential, time
wasted trying to  legitimise the illegitimate Mugabe, time  wasted going to
Zambia for SADC summit on Zimbabwe, time wasted by Thabo Mbeki telling the
world that there was no crisis in Zimbabwe, time wasted in Egypt, time
wasted  by the SADC troika on defence and security, time wasted negotiating
with losers  and the time Mugabe wastes everyday foul mouthing the British.
Don't we ever get enough of this circus! All this was calculated to make you
lose hope on Zimbabwe. We must never!!
Mugabe has to know that Zimbabweans are like tall mountains, they retain
their stability even during the most severe storm. Zimbabweans have survived
the worst and they deserve the best and that is going to be the greatest use
of their lives, spending it for something that outlasts
it;peace,freedom,good governance and transparency.
Zimbabweans are like drowning men, they are not troubled by rain, even if
they fear they will still be oppressed so they need not display any fear,
they need to intensify their demand for democracy using all means available.
Instead of marching to the UK Home Office to demand only the right to work,
let's also demand that the international organisations overseeing world
order do something more practical on Zimbabwe, like helping us remove all
the Zanu pf trash from power, even those we think are innocent, because a
man is not honest only because he did not have the chance to steal, their
support of the junta alone will take us back into the rot. We need a clean
image for a new Zimbabwe.LOVEMORE MAZIVISA.

The land of pedestrian millionaires

http://www.mg.co.za

RAY MWAREYA - Dec 24 2008 06:00

As I was about to step into a public taxi in Harare's Unity Square, a shout
drew my attention. "Ladies and gentleman, the fare is cheap today -- one
million Zim dollars only," boasted the scruffy young taxi-rank marshall. "If
you don't have change don't board."

I had just withdrawn my new maximum amount of Z$100-million from the bank
after six hours in the queue. That made me rich enough by Harare's
standards: I could afford 100 trips in and out of town.

But a new sense of funny reality began to unravel inside me as I took a
closer look at the new red Z$100-million dollar note. A queue started to
form behind me in the taxi rank. The anxious crowd was keen to go home and
escape Harare's evening thunderstorms.

Each of the commuters held a red Z$100-million note, but complained that
despite their newfound riches they could not afford the Z$1-million taxi
ride home! I thought they were being illogical until a young retail
assistant uttered to me the words: "Change, buddy."

Forget cholera and hunger. The new kid on the block of crises in Zimbabwe is
change.

I decided to take a laidback walk to the nearby Nandos and buy two loaves of
bread and tea. After a short wait in the queue the bill came to
Z$30-million. When I produced my red Z$100-million, the cashier frowned and
looked aside.

"We don't have change, mukoma [brother]. Your money is too big. Next!" she
said, stuffing small notes from the till into her handbag. I dropped the
goods back on the shop's empty shelves.

But I reasoned that a pint of my favourite Windhoek Lager would do the
trick. As I beat the pavement to my favourite bar at Ximex Mall, I couldn't
help cursing Gono, the country's all-powerful central bank chief. A day
earlier I'd been praising his name for having raised the cash withdrawal
limit to Z$100-million per week.

The dimly lit bar was full but only two patrons were drinking -- even though
a pint was a mere Z$20-million. "Ray, I can serve you," said the barman,
smiling. "But if you buy one beer, I won't have the Z$80-million change
you'll need."

To my disbelief he proposed that I use the whole Z$100-million to buy five
lagers, informing me that the patrons killing time in the bar had the red
notes but couldn't afford a lager costing Z$20-million -- all for lack of
change.

As my frightening new situation dawned on me, I saw young men just outside
the bar holding bundles of old notes. At first I thought they were the now
familiar forex dealers. But then I was astonished to see a new form of
lucrative trade --exchanging your Z$100-million note for Z$20-million
denominations.

For this you paid: the streetboys were pocketing Z$20-million a time. "It is
up to you to take up our deal, shamwari [friend]," bellowed the leader of
the street dealers, "or you can walk home with your red Z$100-million note
in your pocket."

At first I thought it was daylight robbery, needing the attention of the
Anti-Corruption Commission. But as the night and the rain descended I was
left with no option but to trade the red note.

Never mind about forex: the new gold in Zimbabwe is change. Those with
access to lower denominations are selling them with interest and raking in
super-profits overnight.

As the squeaky taxi roared towards Avondale surburb every soul inside was
nodding their head and muttering the word "change". And hordes of people
with single Z$100-million notes were walking home just because they didn't
have Z$1-million notes for a taxi. What a land of pedestrian millionaires!

Shame Cycle

http://www.tnr.com

by Alvaro Vargas Llosa

Wishing that Robert Mugabe might one day cede power, and that South Africa
might one day stop propping him up.
Post Date December 24, 2008

WASHINGTON--Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe has been blaming the cholera epidemic
that has already killed 1,100 people and may have infected 20,000 others,
along with a famine that threatens another 5 million, on--who else?--Western
colonialism. But both are of his own making and should shame most of the 14
governments, led by South Africa, that make up the Southern African
Development Community. They have abetted the world's most evil ruler.

Zimbabwe was once one of Africa's promising economies. Although Mugabe did
not mess with it too much in the first part of his 28-year rule, in the last
decade he has systematically destroyed it through corruption, the assault on
private property and the maniacal printing of money. Inflation, according to
Zimbabwean economist John Robertson, now reaches a figure so high--an eight
followed by 18 zeros--that it is inconceivable. Public services, including
the water and sewer systems that Mugabe wrested from city councils
controlled by the opposition's Movement for Democratic Change, have
collapsed. The cholera epidemic is a direct result of that descent into
economic hell.
The dearth of food is another byproduct of Mugabe's delirium. It can be
traced back to the new wave of land reform that started in 2000, when under
the pretext of undoing the legacy of colonialism, the government terrorized
white farm owners by sending the War Veterans Association, supposedly a
group of Zimbabweans who had fought for the country's liberation, to seize
the farms by force. Even though Mugabe lost a constitutional referendum that
would have legally empowered him to confiscate farms, more than 100,000
square kilometers were taken over in a matter of weeks. As had been the case
with a more civilized land "reform" of the 1980s, most of the property ended
up in the hands of cronies or peasants unable to engage in economies of
scale in the plots that were distributed to them. Agricultural output was
decimated in what was once known as the breadbasket of southern Africa.

This exercise in economic self-flagellation has taken place under a tyranny
that has murdered thousands of citizens. Even after the power-sharing
agreement signed by Mugabe last September in the wake of his defeat in the
first round of the presidential elections and the subsequent,
government-sponsored violence, people close to opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai have been kidnapped or killed.

With the exception of Botswana, Tanzania and Zambia, the member states of
the Southern African Development Community, South Africa in particular, have
provided the regime in Harare with political cover on every important
occasion. They whitewashed the rigged presidential election in 2002, called
for Tsvangirai to recognize the legitimacy of Mugabe's dictatorship, blamed
the opposition for most of the violence and did not protest when Mugabe
refused to publish the results of the first round of the presidential
election this year.

There are several reasons why Thabo Mbeki was a shameful president of South
Africa until he was legally kicked out of power a few months ago--including
his contention that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which according
to the United Nations affects one in five people in his country, is not the
cause of AIDS. Part of his foreign policy legacy is the protection of Mugabe
all these years. In a recent conversation, former South African opposition
leader Tony Leon told me that "Mbeki's liberation movement mindset led him
to see Mugabe as a fellow comrade in arms and exculpate him from the evils
of his government."

Britain accused of deserting Rhodesia pensioners

Hundreds of pensioners who served the Crown in pre-independence Zimbabwe have been rendered destitute because no country – including Britain – recognises any obligation towards them.

 

By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor
Last Updated: 9:09PM GMT 23 Dec 2008

Zimbabwe pensioner Joan Wright, with a picture of her husband Gavin, who was provincial medical officer for Matabeleland. Mrs Wright is among many who must rely on charity

Many retired officials who spent decades in the government of Rhodesia, which became independent Zimbabwe in 1980, have been left without pensions and at the mercy of charity despite having paid contributions throughout their working lives.

President Robert Mugabe's regime, which is legally obliged to pay their pensions, stopped giving anything to former civil servants living overseas in 2003. Those in Zimbabwe still get their pensions - but hyperinflation has destroyed their value.

In all, some 2,000 elderly people, many of them Britons, have been left with very little. Campaigners believe that Britain has a moral obligation to help people who served the Crown before Zimbabwe's independence. Most are now believed to live in South Africa, with a few hundred in Britain and Zimbabwe.

"We have over 1,700 names of Zimbabwe pensioners on our database, many of whom are too proud to ask for help," said John Redfern, the chairman of the Flame Lily Foundation, which helps the former officials.

"They have been treated as if they don't exist by the country they came from and once loyally served. It is scandalous that a wealthy country like Britain has just abandoned them to their fate."

When Zimbabwe won independence, Mr Mugabe's new government assumed formal responsibility for the pensions of civil servants who had worked for the old Rhodesian administration. At Britain's urging, this commitment was written into Zimbabwe's new constitution.

The Foreign Office argues that all legal obligations towards retired civil servants accordingly transferred to Zimbabwe. It also points out that these former officials were never employed by the British Government through the Colonial Service. They worked for Rhodesia - which had self-government from 1923 onwards and unilaterally declared independence from Britain in 1965.

But Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister responsible for Africa, conceded during a House of Lords debate last year that Britain still had a "moral" obligation.

After hearing a plea from Lord Waddington, the former Conservative Home Secretary who chairs the Overseas Service Pensioners' Association, Lord Malloch-Brown said: "I shall go back to officials and examine this extremely carefully as I think that he has a case."

The minister added: "There is a moral and pragmatic case here, and a responsibility to public servants who have served the Crown so honourably."

In later correspondence, however, Lord Malloch-Brown retreated from this position. "Although we recognise the moral arguments for providing assistance, we have concluded that, unfortunately, we are not able to provide direct financial support to this group of pensioners at this time," he wrote.

The annual cost of paying a full pension to the 2,000 people concerned would be about £25 million. The Government's bill for the pensions of former colonial officials falls by £2 million every year because of deaths.

"These people were civil servants, working for the Crown," said David Le Breton, the secretary of the Overseas Service Pensioners' Association.

"They paid for their occupational pensions for over 40 years. Some were in very senior positions and all of them had expectations of an appropriate pension income when they retired. Now in the twilight years of their lives, they find themselves destitute and abandoned."

Case study: Rhodesia pensioners relying on charity

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Her husband served Rhodesia as a doctor for decades, but now Joan Wright
must rely on charity.

By Sebastien Berger in Simonstown
Last Updated: 8:57PM GMT 23 Dec 2008

Mrs Wright, 90, lives in a cottage overlooking the old British naval base of
Simonstown in South Africa's Cape Peninsula. Born in London, she moved first
to Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, and then to Southern Rhodesia, now
Zimbabwe, with her husband Gavin.

Dr Wright rose to be provincial medical officer for the whole of
Matabeleland. "I can't tell you how dedicated all these people were and how
they loved the country and loved their work and really strived to make
things better," she said. "They really managed to keep malaria at bay, it
truly was a very well run little country. It's very sad for me that all the
tremendously wonderful work they did has just vanished into nothing."

Despite her age, her faculties are intact, but her finances are another
story.

The couple moved to South Africa when Dr Wright retired in 1973. He died a
decade later after 44 years of marriage. "I still miss him," said Mrs
Wright.

In 2003, Zimbabwe's regime stopped paying her widow's pension. Her plight
can be gauged by the fact that she describes herself as "extremely lucky" to
receive £70 a month from the Crown Agents because of her husband's service
in Zambia, not Zimbabwe. "I'm lucky enough to have that, so many people have
nothing," she said. "My Rhodesian pension was much bigger because my husband
had many years of service but I haven't seen that since the beginning of
2003."

A dual British-South African citizen, she receives a hardship grant from the
South African government, and when her cottage needed repainting, the Flame
Lily Foundation stepped in. "At certain times it's very difficult," she
said. "I find it so hard. I have never been overseas or anything like that,
which I miss because my sisters and nieces have died in the meantime."

She is far from alone.

For more than four decades, John Speares worked in Rhodesia's mining
department, starting as a clerk and rising to become under-secretary for
mines.

After 41 years with the same employer - except for service in the Second
World War - he retired in 1974 and moved to South Africa five years later.

Now 94, he lives with his daughter, Pat Dean, at her home in Durban. "Mugabe
just quit paying it and the pension didn't come," he said. "I'm finished
with that, I'm 94 now, I haven't got much longer to go."

Mrs Dean, 60, who runs a charity, explained: "He blames Mugabe personally
for stopping the pension, he thinks it was a personal move of spite against
people who were being paid by his government, and Mugabe didn't have any
appreciation of what they did to build the country. When it stopped it was a
psychological blow, he was one of those people who grew up thinking you did
a job, you put your best into it, you put into your pension and it paid out
when you retired. It was the natural view of things.

It was a tremendous blow for him because he felt abandoned. It's the only
work he's ever done."

When the payments stopped in 2003 Mr Speares was receiving £300 a month. "It
was perfectly adequate, he bought a mobile home on a caravan park and lived
there quite happily," said Mrs Dean. "He could clothe himself, he had a
reasonable old person's lifestyle."

Mr Speares took South African citizenship some years ago, and now receives a
pension of around £65 a month from the authorities. But Mrs Dean relies on
charitable help for his care.

She believes Britain has a moral responsibility to pay the lost pensions.
"These are people of British stock who have been abandoned, and the there
are many Zimbabwean pensioners who are in desperate straits," she said.

Commentary: Remember Zimbabwe's pensioners

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

It is heart-rending to know that any group of elderly, respectable people
should be reduced to spending Christmas in penury.

By Clive Aslet
Last Updated: 8:37PM GMT 23 Dec 2008

But when they are former Crown servants for whom the governments admits a
moral responsibility, the blood boils. Zimbabwe's forgotten pensioners are
such a case.

These are individuals who were recruited to run the civil service of
Southern Rhodesia, as it then was, before independence. When Ian Smith's
regime declared UDI in 1965, Harold Wilson urged them to stay at their
posts.

During the Lancaster House talks of 1979, which negotiated the transition to
majority rule, they were assured that their pensions would be secure. Since
2003, the ex-civil servants who now live in South Africa or the UK have
received no pension at all. Those who have remained inside Zimbabwe find
that their pensions won't buy so much as a postage stamp. All are eking out
their final years in conditions of direst poverty and distress.

In a House of Lords debate last October, Lord Crickhowell, who was a member
of the Thatcher cabinet during the period of the Lancaster House talks,
spoke of his "sense of deep shame and embarrassment that we are now in this
position" and expressed his "hope and expectation that this Government will
do something to honour the pledges given". To which the whole nation,
surely, would cry hear, hear.

Since 1973, Britain has been committed (under the Overseas Pension Act) to
paying the pensions of the civil servants who ran other colonies.

Arrangements in Southern Rhodesia had always been slightly different. Being
exceptionally well administered, it enjoyed a great degree of autonomy,
recruiting its civil servants directly, often through Rhodesia House in
London. Today, the Foreign Office is hiding behind this technicality in its
refusal to honour the Lancaster House commitment. That commitment was partly
enshrined in the constitution of Zimbabwe, paragraphs 112 and 113, which
protected the pension rights of "public officers". While this placed the
onus of paying the pensions on the new state, British ministers clearly
believed that they had ensured, in the words of one of them, "full
safeguards for public service pensions and their remittability".

Nobody foresaw the tragedy that Robert Mugabe's tyranny and mismanagement
would inflict on a wonderful country. Now that Zimbabwe has become a failed
state, the British government must surely honour the clearly stated
intention to protect the pensions of Crown servants, to which some of them
have contributed for 40 years.

Lord Waddington, championing the pensioners in the House of Lords, put it
succinctly. "The fact remains that it was not the archangel Gabriel who
granted independence to Zimbabwe - it was the British Government ... How on
earth in those circumstances can the Government say that what has happened
to the pensions is nothing to do with them? That is completely ridiculous."

Waddington focused his argument on the civil servants who were recruited to
Britain, and returned to Britain after they retired. There are 350 of them,
mostly now in their 80s and 90s. Often they are living on minimum state
benefits and charity. Because the Department for International Development
already has a fund to pay the pensions of Crown servants in other colonies,
the additional money that the government would have to find is a paltry £2
million.

At a time when we have been used to assessing fresh Government commitments
in billions, if not trillions, this is the equivalent of small change. It
amounts to 0.0002% of the £500 billion bank bailout announced in October.
The government could help 1,700 times the number of Zimbabwe pensioners in
Britain for the £3.4 billion it produced for Northern Rock. The comparison
with the gold-plated, inflation proofed pensions available to UK civil
servants working comfortably in their home country need hardly be made.

There is a group of over 1,700 now in South Africa and Zimbabwe itself,
sometimes having been trapped by regulations that have prevented them taking
any of their savings out of Zimbabwe. Their plight is even more pitiful and
desperate. Many are effectively homeless and live on minimum South African
state support of £16 a week. According to the Flame Lily Foundation, a
charity in South Africa, they are often too proud to seek help. "They have
been treated as if they don't exist by the country they came from and once
loyally serves," claims the Chairman, John Redfern. "It is scandalous that a
wealthy country like the UK has just abandoned them to their fate."

Incredibly, Lord Malloch-Brown, Minister of State in the Foreign Office,
acknowledges the "moral and pragmatic arguments" for supporting the
pensioners, yet will not offer financial help. Instead, he falls back on the
laughable assurance that the FO "will continue to remind the Zimbabwe
pension authorities of their legal commitment to former employees of the
Southern Rhodesia Government" - even though the Zimbabwe dollar is now
valueless and the government reneged on its pension responsibilities to
these former civil servants five years ago.

Day by day, the unfolding horror in Zimbabwe, now smitten with cholera,
seems to take a new turn. For the most part Britain, whom Mugabe tries to
blame for the appalling suffering that he has brought on his people, can
only sit by and watch. But while we may be powerless to rectify most of the
wrongs that have been inflicted on what is now a wretched country, the
misery of former Crown servants is easily within our power to redeem - it is
indeed our clear duty to do so.

This case has echoes of the wretchedly mean treatment meted out to the
Ghurkas. It took the High Court to give these former soldiers the right to
remain in the UK, regardless of when they retired or were stationed. The
Zimbabwe pensioners can only hope that the Ghurkas victory will show the
government the way of compassion.

May Gordon Brown can find the charity in his heart to rescue them from
destitution this Christmas.

- Clive Aslet is Editor at Large of Country Life